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“The mission hasn’t started yet. I don’t think it would have done much good to try to question Deanna, Patrick, and Jordy at a party where you’re supposed to be getting to know everyone. I’m not especially close to them, so it made sense you would talk to my family.” He could salvage this. “You looked like a woman getting to know her fiancé’s family. That’s a good thing.”

“It would be if I’d meant to do it, but I didn’t. I found myself falling into conversation and forgetting all about what I was actually there to do.” She kept her eyes on the road ahead of them. “This mission is more important than our relationship.”

“It doesn’t have to be.”

“This is my job and it’s all I have. It has to be more important.”

He could argue with her, but now wasn’t the time. They had five days on the island ahead of them, and despite what she was obviously planning, she would spend most of that time with him. “So you’ve decided we shouldn’t sleep together.”

She turned in her seat. “I’ve decided we need to understand that this is a sexual relationship and it can’t last. I have to go back to London, and you’ll do your thing. Maybe we could see each other when we can, but you need a different type of woman.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I saw your life tonight and I don’t see where I would fit. Your mother is a very traditional wife.”

That showed what she knew. “My mother once shot up a CIA team with tranquilizers so my cousin and his future wife could sneak away from them.”

Nina finally looked his way, and the smile that slid across her face was so brilliant it lit up the night. “She did what?”

He was glad he had a few stories to tell her, too. “It was back when my brother had first joined the CIA unit. They all came out here and they were trying their damnedest to recruit Chelsea. Simon didn’t want her to join the Agency.”

“Shouldn’t it have been her choice?” Nina asked in that way that let him know there was only one answer.

Except he knew the truth. He’d been there. “Ten was blackmailing her.”

“Ah, that sounds like the Agency. So your mother decided to shoot everyone?”

It was so good to hear the amusement in her voice. “That was actually my plan. See, we have lots of tranq darts because this is a ranch and we don’t always want to kill an animal that’s gone a little rogue. But I couldn’t do it on my own, and my dad has an all-American respect for government employees. I do not. Oh, I respect the ones who deserve it, but Ten Smith was wrong. So I didn’t have a problem teaming up with my surprisingly-accurate-when-she-shoots momma. It gave Si a chance to make his case to the woman of his dreams. Now the woman of his dreams was Chelsea Denisovitch.”

Nina laughed at that. “He’s got some interesting dreams. She was The Broker. Interpol had eyes on them. I know everyone wanted us to believe it was Charlotte, but I knew the truth.”

“That’s what I’ve figured out, too. But at the time all that mattered was Simon was in love with her and Ten had convinced her she needed to give it all up and work for him. I believe he’d promised he would solve all of Simon’s problems if she would come work for him. I knew my cousin was in trouble and I wanted to give him a shot at talking to her. So Momma and I very quietly took out a CIA special ops team.”

He made it to the end of the long drive to the farm road that would take them to the highway. From there they would pass Fort Worth and the suburbs and make their way back into Dallas.

Where apparently he would sleep alone tonight.

“That was quite brave of you. Do you know what Ten could have done?” Nina asked.

He hadn’t really thought about it at the time. “It was important. I had to gamble that he needed my help more than he wanted revenge. Like I’ve mentioned before, the Agency hasused Malone Oil more than once. International companies can give an operative excellent cover.”

“And it didn’t hurt that he wanted Michael on the team.” She sat back and seemed to relax as they started down the long highway.

“No, it didn’t.”

“Is it odd to be a twin?”

He took it as a good sign. She was asking him something personal. “Not to me, but then I’ve had a twin since I was conceived. He’s always been there.”

“And then he wasn’t.”

“And then he wasn’t.” He didn’t talk about this much because no one ever asked him. “He didn’t even tell me he was going into the Navy. We graduated and I thought we would take a month off and travel some, but he was on his way to Great Lakes the day after.”

“He didn’t tell you?” The question was quiet but conveyed a sense of shock.

“He left me a note,” JT admitted. “I suppose he didn’t want me to try to talk him out of it. Or he didn’t want to talk about it at all. He’d made his decision.”

She was silent for a moment before she asked her next question. “Are you the one who always compromises?”